The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.81 (700 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1482371006 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 190 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-03-02 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Ricardo Castro said Passionate and broad, a few new ideas. I have mixed feelings about this book, but perhaps I was not the intended audience.If you are not well read in evolutionary biology, if you have not been introduced to the meme theory and/or if you are interested in applying critical thought to religious dogma, then by all means I recommend this book. Go ahead and read it, it is a good "all-in-one" explanation. But, having read many of the sources used before, most of the text was redundant to me.The book has essentially Passionate and broad, a few new ideas Ricardo Castro I have mixed feelings about this book, but perhaps I was not the intended audience.If you are not well read in evolutionary biology, if you have not been introduced to the meme theory and/or if you are interested in applying critical thought to religious dogma, then by all means I recommend this book. Go ahead and read it, it is a good "all-in-one" explanation. But, having read many of the sources used before, most of the text was redundant to me.The book has essentially 4 sec. sec. "Explains what I have felt about religion for many," according to Mary Bagwell. Explains what I have felt about religion for many, many years. Told from a rational unbiased viewpoint. Every thinking person should read this book whether you have strong religious views or not and whether it might change your mind or not. I understand why some people need a religion to help them get through life but those who have evolved beyond this should not be demonized.. J. Leard said An easy-to-understand guide to religion's success. Craig A. James' "The Religion Virus" has a title that sounds like a salvo directly in the face of organized religion, but it really isn't. It's a work that concerns itself with how the ideas of religion have evolved and coalesced over the years to be what it is now. James' perspective as an evolutionist allows a unique perspective that that really nails down why the major religions are still around, how they continue to grow or fall by the wayside, and how concepts of belief m
The world's religions have amazing parallels to biological life: they reproduce, mutate, and compete with each other in an ongoing battle for survival of the fittest. Religions evolve, not metaphorically, but in a very real way. Religion is perfectly adapted to its environment: your brain. They are the strongest and best. More importantly, survival of the fittest does not necessarily mean survival of the truth, but rather the survival of the things people want to believe, whether true or not.. Like biological life, over ninety-nine percenty of the world's religions are extinct, but the ones that remain are quite remarkable. By applying survival-of-the-fittest principles to religion, we can finally understand how religion became incredibly infectious to the average human. You will finally understand why today's religions survived while thousands of other religions and sects died out. In The Religion Virus, you will learn how infectious ideas like the loving father-figure God, the promise that death is not the end, the attraction of heaven, the threat of hell, and many others evolved from prehistoric to modern times
Like a selfish gene or a parasite, the religion virus catches a free ride in the minds of our species, infecting our history and culture. James has written an accessible book on evolution and religion that manages to explain memetics while being both funny and touching. (Wes Unruh, author, The Art of Memetics, editor of alteratic.) Full of powerful, ground-breaking ideas, packaged in a deceptively simple, easy-reading style. (Phil Steele, Editor, Fragment and The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics) . What Guns, Germs and Steel did for anthropology, this book does for faith. James has created one of those rare books where, every few pages, I find myself thinking, "I need to send a
In his spare time, he enjoys biking, hiking Southern California's beautiful beaches and traveling the world. James is a computer scientist who studied artificial intelligence, linguistics and genetic algorithms at Stanford University. By night, he studies religion, sociology, psychology and memetics (how ideas spread across society and down through history). He is ma